May 5

There is none abiding. - 1 Chronicles 29:15.

HOW often are believers saying with the patriarch Job, “Changes and war are against me.” “Here,” says the Apostle, “we have no continuing city.” This will account for the variations in the views and feelings of the godly which are continually taking place. If it is now day with them- “the day is neither clear nor dark;” it is a mixture of both. Their life is a chequered scene. “For we are,” says David, “strangers and sojourners, as were all our fathers; and our days on earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” The image of the church in its present condition may be “a bush burning with fire, and not consumed;” and the motto of each member of the church is still that which Paul adopted in his day, “Perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed.”

Here is the difference between vitality and formality in religion. The latter knows no change, while the former always abounds with it. Many persons are like stones in the field; they remain the same throughout the year, for they are dead. But it is otherwise with the trees in the garden-they are alive; and the “trees of the Lord are full of sap.” And as in the vegetable economy, so in the Spiritual-they pass through all the variations of the seasons. Here we talk of a dark night; in heaven it is day without a cloud. While we now feel changes-changes without, changes within-let us think of the everlasting covenant that is well ordered in all things and sure.

Here we are all anxiety and confusion in our minds and circumstances. One prop is struck away after another. One friend is removed after another, and one comfort after another is dropping; for God never meant that we should continue our hold of earthly good; but in his blessed word he says, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” Let us, therefore, say with David, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with we; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Finally, let this experience teach us to look forward to heaven, for

“All on earth is shadow.

All beyond is substance. How solid all

Where change is known no more.”